Pellegrino’s doctor fixed a slight tear in his knee cartilage but discovered something much worse: a torn ACL. He would have fixed it, but Pellegrino had signed only to authorize work on his meniscus.

The fighter now must book another date with the surgeon to get his ACL replaced, though he is adamant that he won’t be sidelined by the injury any longer than March 2011.

“You hear all these athletes (that) are out for a year,” Pellegrino today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I won’t be out for a year. There’s just no way.”

The knee injury occurred when opponent George Sotiropoulos (13-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) knocked down and jumped on top of Pellegrino (15-5 MMA, 7-4 UFC) in the first round of their fight at UFC 116. Pellegrino’s knee buckled and he screamed in pain, but he refused to quit.

“As soon as he jumps on top of me, I’m holding my left knee with my hand as he’s punching me in the face,” Pellegrino said.

Pellegrino also had torn his meniscus in a fight with Fabricio Camoes at UFC 111 and underwent corrective surgery 10 weeks prior to UFC 116, which took place earlier this month.

Pellegrino fought on despite the injury, and despite a late-fight rally, he lost a unanimous decision.

Afterward, he said his wife, Melissa, became nauseated when they watched the fight.

“She hates me right now,” he said. “[She said], ‘Why didn’t you tap?’ I’m just not going to tap.”

Pellegrino said he would retire if he lost to Sotiropoulos, but the injury changed his mind.

“I used that retirement for motivation, but there’s still huge fights for me in the UFC,” he earlier told MMAjunkie.com. “I’m looking to have a big fight, win the big fight, and get right back into the title picture.”

Despite a new injury to nurse, Pellegrino hopes to be back in his gym doing jiu jitsu in two months. He also hopes to be able to fight by December, but that’s a soft date, and he admits the recovery process could take longer.

“I’m hoping to be ready to fight by December – or March,” he said. “Having meniscus surgery and ACL surgery is pretty serious. I just want to be healed up and ready to fight, and give (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva and (UFC president) Dana White the true Kurt Pellegrino.

The Latest

In this week’s Trading Shots, Danny Downes and Ben Fowlkes look at Ronda Rousey’s 34-second victory over Bethe Correia at UFC 190 and try to put it into terms that capture the moment without getting swept away by it.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?